I have
always been asked about my take on the Communist Manifesto and though I have
been asked numerous times, have heard people quote from it, other people
bashing it, I never took the time to read it. So I found it for free thanks to
kindle, sat down and read away.
Overall I enjoyed the Communist Manifesto Karl Marx is
right about how our current society got into this mess, how the rich are evil,
and his reasoning for centralization of governments I couldn’t agree with more.
Now I understand why so many people gravitate towards Communist ideology
dedicating their lives to the cause. I must also admit that they are very
active in setting up businesses, small towns, even in Cambridge there’s the
famous Red District were everything is run as one big Communist Machine. Seeing
Communism in action being done the right way is a beautiful thing.
As I said I enjoyed it very well but as the title
suggest I found only two parts of the Manifesto I did not like, based on these
two parts I can clearly see why Anarcho-Communism won’t work.
Communism is already acknowledged by all European
Powers to be itself a Power- Communist Manifesto
When I read this it struck me very odd because it
underlines what Communism is and that is Power. Communism as a whole wants
Power just like the Capitalists, the Socialists, and the Fascist. It needs to
be in control to have possession of something. This is in stark contrast to
what Anarchists want to achieve or even be known as. Anarchists don’t want
power they want to topple power and all the fake morality that goes with it.
Communism talks a great deal about equality of me, workers Unite, but it’s only
to give the Communist leaders Power over them. As much as Communist say they
would end classism, curb the need for property, and so on and so forth you
can’t achieve those goals when you are a power. You can only do these goals
when you don’t want Power when you want to truly create all people to be equal.
Anarchism is not about Power, its not about replacing a government with a
government its about replacing government with a society that is ready and
equipped morally, socially, spiritually, to live without government, power, and
all the trappings of this current society.
Anarchism only seems unrealistic when people lose faith
in humanity, when people no longer believe that humans can take care of each
other. If you believe the lies of the government that nothing but Chaos would
ensue until a dictator came along then I feel sorry for you.
The one the Communists do have that Anarchists don’t
have is a presence in the world on small and big scales. They have areas were
they can live out and show people Communism in action. They have schools so
they can teach their children good old Communist values. Anarchists on the
other hand don’t have such presence in the world and the few stores, or areas
are so few and far between that people never see it in action making it a less
likely alternative.
The second thing I didn’t like about the manifesto is
how it centralizes everything to the State. All the money, all the means, everything
belongs to the State. Then it says how over time the State will merely melt
away leaving a borderless, Nation less Commune of humanity. These are good
ideas but let’s looked at this very carefully. If the State is now in control
of everything, meaning those who run the state have all the money, all the
power, all the means what ever made anyone think that they or their children
would ever allow that power to go away? It all comes down to power and people
who have power whether by work or by means very rarely want to give up power no
matter what the agenda is.
As you can guess Anarchism is against the State for
those very reasons. Giving the State that much control is creating another form
of elitism who will exploit the masses with the very propaganda that was used
to have them revolt. Anarchists want to abolish the State, abolish Nations and
artificial boundaries so that no person or group will be able to control
others.
Anarchism will not ask for your possessions or your
money because in an Anarchist society money will not exist and your possessions
have no inherent worth except what you think they are worth. Everything in an
Anarchist society you could argue is worthless, no value because there is no
wealth no capital no concept of greed. Even if you are a hoarder you could
horde till your hearts content it wont make you more important than anyone
else. Your only value is life and maintaining your life until you give over to
death.
Also, by handing everything over to the State as the
Manifesto suggest you don’t get rid of the class system you continue it. In
fact you create an ultra class system were State workers are the elite and
everyone else is second class working to maintain the State which is actually
maintaining the very few elite who now control every aspect of society.
Communism is in fact totalitarianism without any suspecting it to be. It is a
great bate and switch, this is the aspect that people normally don’t see in
Communism because they chose not to.
Again Anarchism doesn’t want anything more than for you
to live as you see fit, farm your own food, build your own shelter, so what you
enjoy because life should be enjoyed. Of course even in an Anarchist society it
wont be all puppy dogs and rainbows but what you do is for you or if you chose to
help others then you will make each other’s lives better.
Anarchism offers no absolutes, no guarantees, all
it offers is not to make the world perfect or Utopian but simply make the world
better. Giving everything over to someone else, believing those with power is
ever going to help you or change for your betterment is simply always the wrong
move. Communism is a wrong move as far as I can see and Anarcho-Communist I’m
afraid will end up in a state that they are not fully aware of
